


i'll be here

by volando_voy



Series: Go Back Home [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:20:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23169199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/volando_voy/pseuds/volando_voy
Summary: Kara receives an unexpected Earth-birthday gift when she's feeling down.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers
Series: Go Back Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665460
Kudos: 18





	i'll be here

**Author's Note:**

  * For [youngbloodbuzz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngbloodbuzz/gifts).



> Happy birthday to the coolest kid on the planet! <3

It’s eight o’clock at night and Kara is painting. Painting because it’s calm, and steady, and the gentle scrapes of brush on canvas provide a soothing white noise that contrasts nicely with the blackness of the canvas. (And wow, doesn’t she have some opinions on that “blackest black” discourse. No human pigments will ever quite capture the bleakness of staring into space, alone, while suspended within it.)

Kara is painting because she hates change and she needs to forget that it’s…

Well, it’s a Thursday.

It’s just a regular old Thursday and— here’s Alex, strolling into her apartment like everything is fine. Normal.

(What was it she’d said to James years ago? Ah, right: _being herself didn’t help her feel more normal._ )

“You—” Kara stares at Alex, who is here, in her apartment, carrying an armload of packages that Kara absolutely did not order for herself. “You remembered?”

Kara barely remembers not to slide her glasses down and peek at the contents. But she does. Remember, that is.

Alex rolls her eyes and explains that of course she remembered that her little sister is the worst adult on the planet, and how did she miss this stack of stuff _(“Do you even walk through the lobby?”)_ , and that as the responsible older sibling, she is here to save Kara from the pain of stolen Amazon orders.

_Alex is here._

Kara holds onto that thought as she smiles and thanks her sister and experimentally shakes the top box— it clunks around in a way that makes her think it’s food. Possibly candy.

Alex laughs and eggs her on to open the box, and Kara nearly— but doesn’t— forget that she should probably use scissors or a house key or something to cut open the packing tape.

As she separates the flaps, Kara wonders if this element of mystery is why Alex was always so excited for birthday gifts. It’s fun, in a weird way, not to know for a change.

The smell gives away that, yes, this package is indeed chocolate, and Alex whoops in approval because it’s all custom Honeydukes candy from the Harry Potter theme park. A whole lot of it. Clearly sent by someone who knows Kara well.

Kara laughs and forks over the first bar into Alex’s expectant hand ( _“I carried it up. You owe me!”)_ , then pauses to look at the packing slip.

There’s a gift message.

Kara’s eyes burn, and for one horrible second she’s not sure if she’s going to cry or set the paper on fire.

A tiny ball of foil bounces off her glasses. Alex has apparently been asking if she was okay long enough to finish three chocolate squares without her, not an ounce of remorse in her expression.

“I’m fine,” she says. “The receipt just reminded me that I need to take this other stuff to work,” she lies. (Or, well, maybe she doesn’t. For all she knows, some of the other items could be work-related.) Alex nods and lets her collect the other boxes off the kitchen island, then announces that she’ll get the popcorn ready while Kara cleans up.

If there’s an antithesis to white noise, popcorn kernels ricocheting in the bag as they explode is definitely it. Kara sets her packages down, arranging them in a little pyramid and trying to remind herself that the world is not ending (again) and that her microwave is not the enemy. She also wonders how Alex would react now if she grabbed a pillow and covered her ears. 

By the time she’s ready to go back to her living room, Alex has the popcorn in a bowl and the Netflix logo gleaming on her TV. Kara resists the urge to super-speed over to the couch and steal the remote, because for as much as she loves her sister, she is not sitting through a marathon of _Stranger Things_ tonight.

Instead she takes her time, folding the flaps on the candy box so it closes neatly, brushing imaginary lint off her sweater. Alex yells over to her, promising to let her pick the show if she would just _hurry up already_ and Kara smiles at how normal it sounds.

As she shifts off the bed and turns to walk away, a scrap of paper drops to the floor and nearly blows across the room in the backdraft.

It’s the gift message.

Kara reaches out to catch it, skimming the words one more time before tucking the paper safely into her pocket and joining Alex on the couch.

_Surprise! Managed to squeeze the order in before I went back to work. AS IF I’D FORGET. There are multiple boxes, hope they all show up. Yes, the candy delivery is scheduled to repeat. And yes, I will expect you to share it._

_Happy Earth Birthday!_

_Love,_

_Alex_


End file.
